Monday, June 30, 2014

As
a small business owner of a manufacturing company with less than 50
employees I finally have to admit that whether I like it or not the
Socialists are going to win the battle for medical care. The small win
on the mandate by Hobby Lobby brings me no solace. Early last fall when
it was time for us to renew our policy we managed to keep our employee
insurance plan in place with an increase no where near the huge
predicted cost increase I was expecting. Our insurance broker warned at
that time that the major suppliers of insurance were not passing on huge
increases at that time because they were holding their cards close to
their vest waiting and watching what was going to happen with the
implementation of Obama care and what if any the push back was going to
be.

Well this year it is different and it looks like the cards
are going to be on the table. Although our renewal date is not until end
of September June is usually the time we start to review where we are
and what we are going to do come October first. After several meetings
with our broker it seems our choices are quite limited. We can keep our
current insurance carrier and policy and take the expected increase
which they are predicting to be in the range of 35 to 60% because there
is a move in the legislature to allow companies to keep what they
currently have but not to cap cost increases. We can move to a company
plan on the "exchange" that government has sanctioned or we can just
drop company coverage and get out of the insurance business entirely.

To
try and keep our current insurance as it is if it is so allowed which
is still unclear would mean a cost increase the company could not bear.
Our broker believes the 45-60% increase even if we can keep it is
likely. To try and keep it and pass the even half the cost of the costs
onto our employees is a cost they cannot bear. To take less of a cost
increase and offer a plan with fewer benefits from what the government
offers is not an option. Therefore the only choice we have is to drop
insurance entirely for our employees.

Yeah I know the Socialists
win and they get to point to greedy business owners for not stepping up
and taking care of their employees. Good thing for employees that the
government is there to look out for them and take care of them. We have
decided to cap our costs and take what the company now pays towards
insurance and do a universal hourly pay increase to every employee. As
we paid 85% of our employees coverage they will all see a fairly
substantial initial pay increase. We are paying that out to every
employee even the few who did not participate in our insurance program.
But then we are out of the insurance business.

Our insurance
broker will meet with every one of our employees at our facility on
company time and help walk them through their options for insurance and
get them signed up well before our policy lapses as of October first.
Sounds like a fair and reasonable alternative plan except for the fact
that it still sticks in my craw and makes me mad every time I go over
what seems to be the only logical path for the company to take. As much
as I replay it in my mind I cannot come up with a better alternative.

I
know what bothers me most and that is that the Socialists have won this
one. Many other small businesses are in the same boat we are. Some have
offered up that everything will be fine and my employees will be able
to get coverage from qualified insurance companies through the
government exchange and maybe that is so for the first year or two but
even our insurance broker agrees that it will not last and insurance
costs will continue to sky rocket and fewer services will be offered. In
private and off the record they admit that even the big insurance
companies admit that the system is designed to fail and will collapse.
The big insurance companies have seen the writing on the wall and know
the end is in sight for them so they are out to make all the money they
can with new people being pushed onto the insurance roles. They know
that the system is designed to collapse and lead to a single payer
government program so make the money while you can. Besides the
government has given the insurance companies a promise to subsidize them
if all the extra benefits they have had to promise drops their bottom
line so what do they have to lose.

Okay I have to just get over
it and move on. If any of you see a better alternative path for my
company to take just post it or PM me. And to the Socialists I have only
two things to say. First you didn't build it we did. Second as FFDP
said in Way of the Fist, "you might win one battle, but know this we'll
win the f**kin war...

July 2 marks the 50th anniversary of the most famous Civil
Rights Act in U.S history. Passed after the longest debate in
congressional history, the Civil Rights Act (CRA) promised to secure
justice for all regardless of race, color, creed, sex, or national
origin. As I wrote in Race and Liberty: The Essential Reader,
the law “was understood to mean ‘colorblindness’ by nearly every
observer at the time.” The plain meaning of the act might be summed up
as: “Nondiscrimination. Period.”

Supporters of the Civil Rights Act did everything in their power to
make the language plain, clear and strong: one key clause stated:

“Nothing contained in this title shall be interpreted to require any
employer . . . to grant preferential treatment to any individual or to
any group because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin . . .
.”
A chief sponsor of the law, Senator Hubert Humphrey (D-MN), rejected
the “bugaboo” of preferences or quotas by stating “If the senator
[opposing the act] can find . . . any language which provides that an
employer will have to hire on the basis of percentage or quota related
to color, race, religion, or national origin, I will start eating the
pages one after another, because it is not in there.”

In 1964, opponents predicted that a governmental push for racial
outcomes was bound to occur, regardless of the plain language of the
act. After all, the principle of a government limited by respect for
individual liberty had always been flouted by those in power—including
segregationist opponents of the law who now acted “shocked! shocked!”
that the government might treat individuals differently based on race.
This was sheer hypocrisy coming from those who defended racial
discrimination by state governments.

Yet, hypocrisy aside, fifty years experience has shown that the CRA
did lead, almost immediately, to the bureaucratic creation of racial
categories (“check boxes”) used to further discriminatory treatment by a
government seeking pre-determined outcomes in hiring, college
admissions, contracting, voting, and much more.

When Valerie Riviello,
a nurse at a Veterans Affairs facility in New York, saw the clinic
restrain a sexual assault survivor to a bed for seven consecutive hours,
she released the woman.

The next day, Ms. Riviello
said, she was removed from her post as senior nurse manager and given a
full-time desk job that prohibited her from contact with patients. She
eventually was reprimanded and is facing a 30-day unpaid suspension for
releasing the woman.

I am outraged
that the House failed to pass the Pittman Amendment to SB 594,
“Omnibus Justice Amendments” which would have protected legally licensed
Concealed Carry holders from becoming felons because of simple
mistakes. I understand that there may be one last chance to correct this
and I EXPECT YOU TO DO SO. I understand that this was a recorded
vote and I will REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER.

There
are other ways of preventing gang violence than criminalizing potential
mistakes by those I love. Such legal
language is simply unacceptable and will not be forgotten. Make every
effort under your power to stop this from happening. Anything less
will be remembered at the polls in November.

A classroom resource provided by a group founded by three lead
writers of the Common Core State Standards teaches 8th graders as fact
that the U.S. Constitution is a "living document" and that the nation's
founders only considered white males with property as persons under the
law.
But leading constitutional scholars challenge both assertions.

I would bet $10 the owner of this gas-station store is a Democrat because only Democrats believe in word magic and only Democrats can be this stupid.

On March 19, 2014, a Mississippi concealed weapons permit (CWP) holder, a white male in his 30s, walked into Keith’s Superstore — a convenience store attached to a Chevron gas station at 7843 Highway 11 in Lumberton, MS.

The U.S. military estimates that roughly two thirds of today's youth are ineligible to serve
due to a variety of physical, behavioral, and educational issues.
Military hopefuls can be deemed unfit for service due to tattoos, felony
convictions, low scores on intelligence tests, and drug use, among
other reasons.

The most common reason recruits are disqualified is obesity. Child and adolescent obesity rates have skyrocketed in the past 30 years, and in some states nearly one out of five high schoolers is considered to be obese.

The military's new tattoo standards
have also put a hamper on some recruits. The military has banned
tattoos on the hand, forearm, calf, and above the neck. In most states,
it is illegal to tattoo someone under the age of 18 unless a parent has
given consent or is present.

Additionally, about a quarter of high school graduates cannot pass the Armed Forces Qualification Test,
meaning that they lack even basic mathematics and reading skills needed
to join the military. A recruit scoring below the tenth percentile on
the AFQT is "generally" not permitted to join the military.

The only people that benefit from gun control are corrupt governments and criminals, but I repeat myself:

On the streets, Richard Hernandez was supposed to stop violence as an “interrupter” in the celebrated CeaseFire program.

But Chicago cops have another name for him: rapist.

Hernandez faces 36 counts charging him with sexually assaulting and
kidnapping a teenage girl while he worked for the program, the Chicago
Sun-Times has learned. He’s among at least nine employees of the
anti-violence program to face serious criminal charges in recent years.

It's all good fun to mock the Internal Revenue
Service's plausibility-challenged explanations for just how
potentially embarrassing (to the IRS) emails were
lost and why they can't be recovered, but let's not forget
what's at the core of the story: the tax collection agency's
long and storied history as a political hitman. IRS audits have
been targeted at political opponents of incumbent presidents, tax
information has been leaked about enemies of powerful members of
Congress, and the agency's own employees have abused their power
for
personal reasons.

A Marine corporal who was declared a deserter nearly 10 years ago
after disappearing in Iraq under mysterious circumstances is back in
military custody and will face charges to be determined by a two-star
general.

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, 34, turned himself in and was
flown Sunday from an undisclosed location in the Middle East to Norfolk,
Va. He is to be moved Monday to his original home base of Camp Lejeune
in North Carolina, according to a spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters
at the Pentagon, Capt. Eric Flanagan.

The sea ice coverage around Antarctica over the weekend marked a record
high, with the ice surrounding the continent measuring at 2.07 million
square kilometers, according to an environmentalist and author who says
the ice there has actually been increasing since 1979 despite continued
warnings of global warming.

Pope Francis, whose criticisms of unbridled capitalism have caused
many to brand him a Marxist, said in an interview published Sunday that
communists “stole” Christian ideals.

The 77-year-old pontiff was asked during his interview with local
Il Messaggero newspaper about a blog in the Economist magazine by
a journalist who said the Pope sounded a lot like a Leninist
because he often criticized capitalism and called for reform of
the global economic system.

“I can only say that the communists have stolen our flag. The
flag of the poor is Christian. Poverty is at the center of the
Gospel,” said the Pope. He was referring to passages in the
Bible which state the need to help the poor.

LAREDO, Texas--A glimpse into the reality of the thousands of
illegal immigrants being released into the U.S. by the Obama
Administration was captured on video in a Greyhound Bus station in
Laredo, Texas this weekend. The illegal immigrants who cross as
incomplete family units simply enter the U.S. illegally, turn themselves
in to U.S. Border Patrol agents, are processed, and then released with a
notice to appear at a future date for court proceedings. U.S. taxpayers
then fund bus tickets for the illegal immigrants to go to the U.S. city
of their choosing. Approximately 95 percent of the illegal immigrants
never return as promised for court proceedings, according to Hector
Garza, a Border Patrol agent and spokesperson for the National Border
Patrol Council (NBPC) Local 2455.

Congressional Budget Office projections indicate that if the Schumer-Rubio bill (S.744) becomes law, the number of new legal immigrants allowed into the country will roughly double to 20 million over the next decade, adding to the 40 million immigrants (legal and illegal) already here.1 This increase is in addition to the legalization of illegal immigrants already in the country. The primary argument for this dramatic increase is, as Republican congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) has argued, that without it the country faces “labor shortages”. The
National Restaurant Association, National Association of Home Builders,
National Association of Manufacturers, Business Roundtable, U.S.
Chamber Commence, and numerous other companies and business
associations have all argued that immigration should be increased
because there are not enough workers in the country — both skilled and
unskilled.2 This report examines employment trends for immigrants and natives to see if potential workers are, in fact, in short supply.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision Monday ruled that a “closely
held” for-profit business can opt out of Obamacare’s controversial
contraception requirement based on religious objections.
The case brought by Hobby Lobby, an Oklahoma-based arts and crafts chain with about 13,000 employees, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Pennsylvania cabinet maker, challenged the Affordable Health Care Act requirement that employees provide free contraception coverage, including abortion-inducing drugs.

Hobby Lobby’s argument was based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which protects the individual beliefs of citizens.

The majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, said the Department of Health and Human Services “argues that the companies cannot sue because they are for-profit corporations, and that the owners cannot sue because the regulations apply only to the companies, but that would leave merchants with a difficult choice: give up the right to seek judicial protection of their religious liberty or forgo the benefits of operating as corporations.”

Remembrance

Winners: Navy Cross Nguyen Van Kiet & MOH Thomas R. Norris This week’s Medal of Honor hero is one of a handful of Navy SEALs awarded the MOH in the Vietnam War. Norris snuck behind enemy lines with a South Vietnamese Navy petty officer rescued two downed pilots in 1972–when most of our resources had been pulled from the country. Interesting to note that later year, Norris was himself rescued by another SEAL Michael E. Thornton.More @ Medal of Honor Roll Call

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Core Creek Militia

==============================My sixth great grandfather, his wife, and five of his six children were killed in battle with the Tuscarora Indians at Core Creek, NC.

The Seven Blackbirds

==============================My third great grandfather was an Ensign in the Revolutionary War, and saved his unit's flag after being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. He was also at Kingston (Kinston), Wilmington, Charleston, Two Sisters and Augusta. He was at the defeat at Brier Creek and also Bee Creek.

Requiem Aeternam -
Eternal Rest Grant unto Them
==============================
My second great grandfather was killed in action on May 3, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
=============================
My great grandfather and great uncle knew all the men in the "Civil War Requiem" video as they were part of the 53rd NC which was the sole unit defending Fort Mahone. (Fort Mahone was named "Fort Damnation" by the Yankees) *Handpicked men of the 53rd (My great grandfather was one of these) made the final, night assault at Petersburg in an attempt to break Grant's line. This was against Fort Stedman which was a few miles to the slight northeast. They initially succeeded, but reinforcements drove them back. This video is made from photographs which were taken the day after the 53rd evacuated the lines the night before to begin the retreat to Appomattox. I have many more pictures taken by the same photographer, one of these shows a 14 year old boy and the other is the famous picture of the blond, handsome soldier with his musket.
===========================
*General Gordon promised the men a gold medal and 30 days leave if they accomplished their task and many years after the War my great grandfather wrote General Gordon, who was then governor of Georgia about this incident. They exchanged several letters which I have framed. See first link below.
===========================
*The Attack On Fort Stedman
============================
"His Colored Friends"
============================
Lee's Surrender
=============================
My Black NC Kinfolks
============================
Punished For Being Caught!

Great Grandfather Koonce

He was a drummer boy in the WBTS, survived the War only to die a few years later. He was caught in an ice storm on his way home, but instead of seeking shelter, continued on his horse until the end. His clothes had to be cut off and he died a few days later.